“I didn’t know what I was doing... I was so drunk,” he continued to explain himself. “I was angry about some-thing that night and I took it out on you. I didn't mean to hurt you, Arianna. Do you hear me?”Of course, she could hear him, but she couldn’t speak as she wrestled with her own emotions, her tears. He pulled her closer again, tightening his arms around her shaking body. But his image remained behind her eyelids as she closed her eyes and willed herself to calm down.His presence, the warmth of his body, the familiarity of his smell... was threatening to crush her sanity.Why was he acting as if he cared? It was making her feel things she didn’t have a right to feel. But the relief to know he wasn’t angry at her was overwhelming that she couldn’t breathe.Again, she remembered how gentle he'd suddenly become when, despite his drunkenness, he’d noticed how frightened she was that night. She took deep gulps of breath and the sobs subsided.A few moments passed, and she tried to
Arianna slowly woke up.She opened her eyes and, for a puzzled moment, she just stared at the slowly rotating fan on the ceiling.When everything came back to her, she sat on the bed, then had to close her eyes because the rush made her feel heady.It was still light outside, thank goodness! It was late morning when they came here, she remembered. How could she fall asleep so early? She felt like she'd slept for hours!Where were her clothes? She had to go home before Tommy could get ahead of her.Mama! She would be worried about why she still hadn't come back!She looked out the window, hoping it wasn't lunchtime yet even though she could see that the sun wasn’t directly above the sky anymore.Holding the blanket carefully over her breasts, she slid down the enormous bed and picked up the pieces of her clothes on the floor. Her face was blushing at the memory of how they got there as she dressed quickly.She had just gotten out of the bathroom where she washed her flushed face when a
“Are you okay?”Yna opened her eyes and resisted the urge to smile at the señorito. Which happened anyway, since his smile was infectious. “I don’t know if I can stand up. I’m so full, sen—Eric.” Her smile disappeared at the almost mistake.He laughed. “You’re so cute.”Yna sighed and mumbled. “You’re so weird.”He clearly heard that and laughed some more. When he started to get up, Yna moved, too.“What are you doing?”She blinked. “I’m going to help you with the dishes.”“Sit. I’ll do it myself.”“You’re going to wash the dishes?”“I’ll just load them up in the dishwasher.”“You have a dishwasher?” She looked in the direction of the kitchen. “I thought you said there was nobody else here?”He paused. “I meant the dishwashing… machine. I have kitchen equipment that can wash dishes for me.”She felt her cheeks warming up. “Ah… yeah. I’ve heard of those, of course. I just don’t know of anyone… except you… now… who actually has it, of course.” She closed her eyes, hoping she could just m
It wasn’t a long ride. He didn't even make the horse run. Instead, they plodded along as if they were strolling in the countryside, which in retrospect, was exactly what it seemed like if you take away all the mess of the last weeks, especially the one that just happened.If it was all taken away, then there would be nothing, Arianna was thinking. He wouldn't even know her, would not try to look for her, and she wouldn't be riding with him on this horse.So what were they doing?She closed her eyes as she arrived at the most obvious thing.He still wanted her.There was no mistaking that after what happened in his house that he wanted for things to continue. Her cheeks felt like it was getting more and more inflamed as she remembered. There was no question that she had no willpower to fight him off after her reaction to his touch. Even now, as he held her, she still felt her body reacting to him. She caught herself leaning back towards him a few times then got rigid at what she was
“Enrique? Enrique? My god...!” She tapped his cheek. “Enrique? Are you hurt? Don't faint. Enrique?”He opened his eyes, then he tried to grin, so she thought he really was hurt.In the head.Like gone mad.“The horse... stupid... horse...” he mumbled in a rough voice.“It got scared of our fight... I'm sorry it's my fault.”He still looked confused as he tried to sit up. “That's the first time I ever fell from a horse...” he said groggily.She cringed. He folded his legs as if he was going to get up but she held him down tighter. “No... wait. Let me see first...” she told him. “Where are you hurting? Let me see your back.”“Sure...” He was still smiling. Her hand froze from reaching for the back of his head.“Enrique?”He winced. And then, he used the ‘royal highness’ tone again. “Enrique's really a mouthful. I told you, Eric or Ric. Choose for the last time.”“I forgot, okay?” He’s injured and he still had the time to nag?“Say it.”“What?”“My name.”She stared at him stupidly. Reall
It turned out they did not need to ask for help. There were people already in their house. As soon as they made the turn, she could see them in the short distance.Someone was removing their curtains from the windows. Someone was also lowering their bamboo sofa down the small porch's stairs. And some of their stuff was already inside a truck.“Why? What is that? What's happening?”“Because I'm supposedly working in the hacienda, we need to move to a house closer to the fishery,” Tommy told her in a casual voice while his face said differently. He wasn’t buying the excuse of the century.He also looked as confused as she was. His mind could not keep up with what was happening, but he was willing to wait for it to catch up. Meaning, that he was waiting for someone to explain further.That would be her. She turned towards Eric. He remained silent, not looking back at her. But Tommy wasn't finished. “They also said it was timely because... the Señor has plans. The land is needed,” Tommy
“Tommy?”She found Tommy standing alone by the edge of their garden, looking at the vegetation they worked hard to maintain, and he looked very dejected. He glanced at her for a moment before he looked back at the garden again. His shoulders looked bowed as his posture was, and he seemed unseeing. Her heart melted at the sight, and she decided against the lecture she was about to impose on her little guy. Instead, she stood beside him and looked over at the garden herself. “We'll transfer as much as we can bring there. It will be easier because we'll have faucet water. We can get a hose so Mama can water the plants and it'll be an exercise for her.”At the periphery of her vision, she saw him glance at her again. “Ate, I know you didn't want to move, but it was just so fast and—”“I understand. Tommy...” She raised a hand to place it on his shoulder. “You made the right decision. This is good for you and Mama and for me, too.”He was looking at her. “I told him the truth, that it was
Before nine o'clock that night, all of their belongings—as meager as they were—were moved from their old hut to the bigger and sturdier house near the fishponds. That house was built a year ago and remained vacant, only occasionally used by a consultant for the fishery who visited the hacienda when needed.They first got the bedrooms ready for sleeping that night so their mother could get rested as soon as she comes back in the morning from the hospital. That left their other stuff scattered in the living room of the house. There were three bedrooms upstairs, which meant they would all have their own rooms. They didn't have time to go to the hospital before visiting time was over, but a nurse Zoren knew had arranged a video call with Zoren's phone so they could show their mother the mess in the living room and their bedrooms. She looked happy and so well that Arianna felt guilty after the call for arguing with Enrique—Eric—too much about moving, as it was supposedly their mother's